Who should control our homes? Let’s have a vote

Published: 20 May, 2011

• ISLINGTON Council is conducting a review of housing services currently delegated to Homes for Islington (HfI). 

One of the first stages of the review – in my view the most significant and potentially influential – is the appointment of an independent tenants’ advisor. At a not-widely-publicised meeting convened by the council last Thursday, those present were assured in no uncertain terms that HfI was not involved in conducting the review and would have no special privileges in respect of it. 

However, it has now come to light that this statement is indefensible as the only people who were invited to participate in the selection of the independent tenants’ advisor were to be those on the HfI resident involvement register. This register, managed by HfI, is a list of people who have expressed an interest in being consulted by HfI – it contains fewer than 900 names. 

Although I’m sure there are many well-meaning residents on the list, it is unlikely to include the many who are keenly interested in the management of the borough’s homes but have no remaining trust or confidence in HfI. 

The bottom line is that 900 out of 80,000 residents equates to a 1.5 per cent representation. That could hardly be described as a cross-section of the community. 

If Councillor James Murray and the other suits in the corridors of power in Islington want to convince us they care about what we, the residents, actually think, or that this expensive gesture is anything but a PR exercise to justify the continuation of HfI, then they should agree to what they have already been asked to do many times – have an all-inclusive residents’ ballot on keeping HfI. 

Of course, they won’t agree to this, knowing very well what the outcome would be. 

ISLINGTON RESIDENT
N5
(Name and address supplied)

• WHY has the council decided not to take back in-house the management of housing stock as several London boroughs did following the local elections. 

Instead, we have had the expensive and intentional delays caused by advertising for a so-called independent tenants’ advisor and estimated costs of £50,000-plus to pay yet another private company to do another survey, plus the additional unknown cost of “incentives” for the input from the “interested residents, staff and councillors… involved in the consultation”. 

Councillor James Murray has clearly indicated that councillors, staff and anonymous residents will have their say, a majority of whom do not live in council properties and therefore have no right to make leading decisions that will affect council tenants and leaseholders. 

I completely agree with Phil Cosgrove (Beware of tenants’ ‘friends’ with a privatisation agenda, May 13) that this is yet another “expensive layer of bureaucracy”.

Since last May newly-elected councillors have preferred to use the Homes for Islington buffer zone rather than take responsibility for their full statutory duties, and instructed staff to undertake other work than the jobs they were employed to do. 

This has created so many financial errors that even the council auditor was stopped from completing its investigative work into the appalling number of invoices paid without evidence of work completed and shoddy workmanship cases that have led to duplicate payments and overcharging on so many contracts. 

Due to this ingrained lack of controls, I investigated and found that a single contract of £211,625 has resulted in 9,357 leaseholders being overcharged £8.04p each on just one of their service charge invoices of £25.64p, equalling £75,230.28p boroughwide.  

This continuing waste of public money through lack of monetary controls by councillors (of all parties) should at last be taken seriously and all work brought back in-house to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and effectively for everybody’s benefit. Or are my expectations too high for today’s career politicians? 

HELEN CAGNONI
WC1

• OF the thousands of tenants and leaseholders, only 25 attended the first housing management review meeting. They were invited to set up four panels to review options put forward by the council. The independent tenants’ advisor would then report back to the council as a go-between, a role that should surely be done by councillors.

The meeting ended with the two council representatives saying they would go out to our estates and find more tenants to take part in the consultation process. I feel sure they will find the people who will give them the answers they want to hear.  

May I suggest we return to the tried and tested method of an independent body carrying out a one-person, one-vote ballot. This may not be perfect but will speed the process up and stop HfI taking on more long-term contracts and committing Islington to a system that has failed us in its Decent Homes and major works programmes.

PJ LEAMY
Cowdenbeath Path, N1 

• Islington Council is on track with preparations for its wide-ranging review of housing management in the borough. We’ve had lots of interest from tenants and residents about the process and are busy sorting out roles for them going forward as part of the residents’ panel.

By the end of this week, we will have informed our five area housing panels and tenant and leaseholder representatives about the review and explained how they can get involved. The first step in the process is for residents to select and appoint their independent tenant advisor.

Following early feedback, tenant management organisation (TMO) residents who weren’t initially invited to join the residents’ panel because they aren’t on Homes for Islington’s resident involvement register will now be invited to join. 

The consultation will also ensure that Partners’ residents are given full opportunity to express their views, because the clienting contract could be affected by the outcome of the review. 

We are encouraging TMO chairs to seek their members’ involvement on the wider residents’ panel.

CLLR JAMES MURRAY
Labour executive member for housing